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I made my little David a dinosaur hoodie just in time for last Halloween. He is still wearing it, so I decided to post this blog I drafted several months ago.

It is so cold here by Oct. 31st and he was not old enough to trick-or-treat or eat candy so I thought this seemed like a perfect half-costume compromise for running an errand or handing out some candy.

When you are sewing for babies, you can do a n y t h i n g. This mentality speeds things along.

Step One
Decide what you want your spike to look like and then figure out the placement and spacing. Our spike is three inches wide and tall. I don’t like them looking puny and if they are too big they will flop over, which on a stegosaurus would mean broken plates, which is kind of gross.

Step Two
Sit next to your sewing machine to set the mood. Cut out the cardboard template, and label it so you will recognize it later.

Other good Step Ones would be:
Put the baby to bed.

or
Get felt (like 1/3 yard) and a hoodie. I was going to use a sweatshirt he already owned, but he had pretty much grown out of them and I wanted him to wear it for a few months at least.

Next
Place your spike template on a folded piece of felt and cut out a bunch of diamond shapes that will later fold into spikes. I needed four for the hood, which I did first.

Calm down, sun. The natural light makes the felt look like molten lava. Do not be afraid to touch it.

The hood has a seam down the center of it, which was nice for finding the center but annoying for sewing along. I did not use the machine here for this reason. I pinned the open spikes along the center and stitched through the middle, on the crease where they were folded. Make sure the Sharpie marks are face up now, and make any sewing knots or ugliness happen here as well, so when you fold it shut it will look good.

I don’t know why I’m turning this into a tutorial…how many of you are going to sit down and make one? You can make one for teenagers or adults, if you don’t have a baby.

After sewing down the center of the diamonds with thread that is close in color to the hoodie, close the spikes and sew them shut. I switched to red thread for this step, and used a simple overcast stitch which is like the idiot brother of the blanket stitch. I think the escalloped effect this creates adds to the cuteness. Felt does not require hemming. I barely had enough red thread but I was afraid to use another color.

Since the baby did not sleep very long, have him model it at this point.

It will look so cute and comical that you will be inspired to keep going (some other naptime).

Locate the center of the back of the hoodie and sew the other spikes down the spine. This part only took three spikes while the hood took four, because babies’ heads are very big on their bodies. Sew them closed, using embroidery floss. I have a ton of red embroidery floss! I enjoyed that part so I did it by hand.